Bomb kills two at Pakistan Sufi shrine

February 27, 2013 - 12:00:00 am

KARACHI: A bomb blast at a Sufi Muslim shrine killed at least two people and wounded 10 in southern Pakistan, police said yesterday.

The bomb went off at Shah Lakhi Ghulam shrine in southern Shikarpur district, some 400km (250 miles) northeast of Karachi, where devotees had gathered to pay homage to the revered Sufi saint buried there.

“At least two people were killed and 10 others were wounded after a bomb exploded at Shah Lakhi Ghulam shrine,” senior police official Pervez Chandio said.

“We are investigating what type of bomb had been detonated and the motives behind it,” Chandio said.

The shrine, worshipped by Sufis who follow a mystical branch of Islam, is also regularly visited by minority Shias.

But majority Sunnis pray at the shrine too, residents said, adding that such attacks were rare in the area.

Shias, who make up around 20 percent of the mostly Sunni population of 180 million, are facing a record numbers of attacks which is in turn raising serious questions about security as nuclear-armed Pakistan prepares to hold elections by mid-May.

On February 16 a bomb attack in Quetta killed 89 people, while 92 people were killed in an assault at a Hazara snooker hall on January 10. afp